In recent Eagle Ford news, researchers from the University of Austin released a new report that shows water usage in the Eagle Ford has expanded exponentially over the last five years thanks to fracking.

The U.S. rig count decreased by six, ending with 857 rigs running by midday Friday. A total of 218 rigs were targeting natural gas (one more than the previous week) and 638 were targeting oil in the U.S. (seven less than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.)366 of the rigs active in the U.S. were running in Texas.

Baker Hughes reports its own Eagle Ford Rig Count that covers the 14 core counties. The rig count published on EagleFordShale.com includes a 30 county area impacted by Eagle Ford development. A full list of the counties included can be found in the table near the bottom of this article.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

Natural gas rigs in the Eagle Ford remained at 25 this week and natural gas prices traded at $2.88/mmbtu, an $.11 increase from the previous week.

The oil rig count fell by four to 86 as WTI oil prices dropped to $50.85, a decrease of $1.89. A total of 101 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, zero are drilling directional wells, and 10 are vertical rigs. Karnes continues to lead development this week running 19 rigs, with DeWitt (15) and Webb (15) following closely. See the full list below in the Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County below.

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

County

Previous Week

Current Week

County

Previous Week

Current Week

KARNES

20

19

BURLESON

2

1

DE WITT

15

15

FAYETTE

1

1

WEBB

15

15

GRIMES

1

1

LA SALLE

17

14

LAVACA

1

1

DIMMIT

14

11

LEE

0

1

GONZALES

8

6

ROBERTSON

1

1

MCMULLEN

3

6

AUSTIN

0

0

ATASCOSA

5

4

COLORADO

0

0

BRAZOS

3

3

GOLIAD

0

0

BEE

1

2

LEON

0

0

DUVAL

2

2

MAVERICK

0

0

FRIO

1

2

MILAM

0

0

LIVE OAK

1

2

WASHINGTON

0

0

MADISON

2

2

WILSON

0

0

ZAVALA

2

2

BASTROP

0

0

Eagle Ford Shale News

What is the Rig Count?

The Eagle Ford Shale Rig Count is an index of the total number of oil & gas drilling rigs running across a 30 county area in South Texas. The South Texas rigs referred to in this article are for ALL drilling reported by Baker Hughes and not solely wells targeting the Eagle Ford formation. All land rigs and onshore rig data shown here are based upon industry estimates provided by the Baker Hughes Rig Count.
Read more at bakerhughes.com

Elizabeth Alford

Elizabeth Alford writes on significant news developments in the Eagle Ford oil and gas play taking place across South TX. She is a freelance writer with an extensive communications, PR, and staff writing background.